Peter Cooper opened Cooper Union in 1859.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Cooper Union's official history page, Wikipedia, and History.com, all consistently stating the institution was founded/opened in 1859 by Peter Cooper.
Sources
- Cooper-Hewitt Transformed (newyorker.com)
- https://cooper.edu/about/history (cooper.edu)
- https://www.history.com/articles/after-155-years-its-the-end-of-an-era-at-cooper-union (history.com)